"The Pearl of Psalms" ....New Fall Sermon Series begins Sunday

The book of Psalms is one of the most beloved in all the Bible for believers and even unbelievers. Poets, presidents and popes read from the Psalms.  The reason?  They are rich in human experience.  The Psalms play all the notes on the keyboard of human emotion.  The black ones and the white ones all are in concert to sing of what it’s like to be a human.  It’s the stuff life is made of.

Martin Luther called this book “A Bible in miniature.”  Indeed, the Psalms stands at the crossroads of the Bible pointing all who read to the one who hung on the cross.

Psalms is the longest book in the Bible – 150 chapters.  Each chapter is a song that would be have been put to music to be sung by the Jewish worshipers.  The very title “Psalms” means “the plucking of strings” and most likely each Psalm would have been accompanied by a harp or lyre.

The longest chapter in the Bible is in Psalms – 119.  The shortest chapter in the Bible is in Psalms – 117.  The very middle chapter of 1189 chapters of the Bible is Psalm 117. 

These Psalms were written over a period of time ranging from 900 to a 1000 years.  Unlike other Bible books, there are multiple authors such as David, Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon, Moses, Ethan, Ezra and countless anonymous authors. 

This book is the most quoted not only by current men, but in the New Testament.  Of the 360 quotes in the New Testament relating to the Old Testament, 112 of them are from the Psalms.

Since the Psalms are so well known, there is a temptation not to spend much time studying them for we feel we can’t learn anything new.  But I pray as we look at the most popular of all the Psalms, we will discover why the great English preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, called Psalm 23 “The Pearl of the Psalms.”

Psalm 23 is positioned between Psalm 22 and 24 and forms a beautiful “mini” message in just that.  Psalm 22 has been called “The Psalm of the Cross,” Psalm 23 “The Psalm of the Crook,” and Psalm 24 “The Psalm of the Crown.” 

Jesus died (Psalm 22), he provides for us now (Psalm 23) and is coming again (Psalm 24).

May we walk through this “holy ground” declaring “The Lord is my Shepherd!!”